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Race Matters:
Addressing Racial Bias in
Transracial/Transcultural Adoption
NTI Webinar September 22, 2020
Edna Davis-Brown, MPH
Lisa D. Maynard, LMSW
POLL
What’s Your Current Role?
✓Administrator✓ Supervisor✓Caseworker/
Case Manager✓ Therapist✓ Social Worker✓Other
What We Will Cover Today…..
• Webinar Objectives
• Overview of NTI
• Racial Bias/Racial Equity
• Personal Bias
• The Effect of Racism in Adoption
• The Role of the Child Welfare Professional
• Questions and Answers
✓ Adoption competent clinical services
✓ Adoption competency training for professionals
✓ Publications and educational programs
✓ Life skills programming for transitional youth
www.adoptionsupport.org
The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the funders, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. This information is in the public domain. Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit the National Adoption Competency Mental Health
Training Initiative.
✓5 Year Research Initiative: 2014-2019
✓Create state of the art web–based trainings for child welfare and mental health professionals
✓Enhance the capacity of professionals to
understand and address the mental health challenges of children and youth in foster care,
adoption, guardianship www.adoptionsupport.org/nti
These nationally recognized experts and many othersserve as NTI National Advisors
For most children, adoption itself is a significant protective factor…
One study of children in foster care aged 2 to 14 years identified nearly 50% with clinically significant mental health problems.4
Scheid - 2016
The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates Up to 80% of children and adolescents enter with a significant mental health need compared to approximately 18-22 percent of the general population.
https://pediatrics.aappublicatio
ns.org/content/136/4/e1131
NTI: Advancing Practice for Permanency and
Well-Being
• Support children to heal from trauma and loss.
• Provide parents with skills to parent more effectively.
• Improve child and family well-being to increase family stability.
• Today’s focus is on Race & Diversity
Guiding Principles
NTI incorporates guiding principles to support families formed through
adoption/guardianship:
▪ Adoption is lifelong & intergenerational
▪ Loss and grief are central
▪ Secure attachments can be built/re-built
▪ Identity formation is more complex
▪ Race, ethnicity, culture, class, gender
identity have a unique role
▪ Specialized training is needed
NTI Competencies
• Understanding Children’s Mental Health Challenges
• Loss and Grief
• Impact of Trauma
• Building Strong Attachments
• Positive Identity Formation
• Impact of Race, Culture and Diversity
• Providing Post-Adoption Supports
• Assessment & Treatment Planning
• Therapeutic Parenting Strategies
Disproportionality in Child Welfare
Studies of disproportionality in child welfare have found the following:
• African American children are more likely than the general child population to be represented in foster care and, once there, more likely to remain in care for longer periods of time.
• American Indian children are less likely to be placed outside their home.
• Youth of color experience longer stays in foster care and more restrictive placements than their white counterparts
NTI Addresses Race • Disproportionality exists in child welfare
• We live in a race-conscious society
• Race does impact children
• It is important to understand implicit bias
• CW and MH professionals can make a difference
Transracial/Transcultural Adoption
Common MisconceptionsWhen Considering Transracial/ Transcultural Adoption
“Our child will have our culture”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”
“No worries! They’ll blend”
"All you need is love"
“Colorblind” is a good thing
“My kids have lots of friends that
look like them”
Understanding & Addressing the Feelings Around Current Events
What is Racial Bias? Racial Equity?
What is Racial Bias?
• Belief that some are better than others
• Attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner
• Importance of awareness of implicit bias
Biases at WorkThe belief that......
• Children should remain in their birth families no matter what
• Birth parents who abuse don’t deserve a chance to change
• Children and youth should only be placed with parents of the same race
• Children should always be placed in a more economically advantaged environment
• “The apple does not fall far from the tree”
• People from a particular culture have substance abuse issues
Racial Equity• “Racial equity" is about
applying justice and a little bit of common sense to a system that's been out of balance.”
• “When a system is out of balance, people of color feel the impacts most acutely, but to be clear, an imbalanced system makes all of us pay.”
https://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org/
Understanding Personal Biases
What Was Your Experience of Race?
How has that influenced your feelings and your work?
Effects & Dynamics of Implicit/Unconscious Bias
How Diverse is Your Universe?
Visual representation of how expansive or surprisingly narrow your universe is
Let’s give it a try
• Select a bead that most closely represents your ethnicity.
• Select a bead that most closely represents the ethnicity of your significant other.
• Select a bead that represents the ethnicity of your closest friend.
• My dentist is…
• My coworkers are predominantly…
• My classmates are predominantly…
• The people in my social circle are predominantly…
• The author of the last book I read was…
Reflection
What do you think?
What assumptions are made based on cultural miscommunication?
• Impact on children and families
• Challenge assumptions
The Child Welfare/Mental Health Professional’s Role
CW/MH Role• Race makes a
difference
• Race does impact children
• We live in a race-conscious society
• Things still are not great
• Some things have not changed
What is the CW/MH role?
“It’s important that we make it safe and make the children feel comfortable in talking about race and culture. But in order for us to make them feel comfortable, we have to feel comfortable bringing it up.”
Expect to Be “UNCOMFORTABLE” at times.
Racial Identity
Connection between Racial Identity and Well-Being
Examine the child’s history to understand how they view themselves to help to preserve their racial, ethnic, or cultural identity in order to:
• Make the best placement decision for them
• Choose the most appropriate treatment options when they need the support of a MH health professional.
Risk Factors
• “Colorblindness”prevents honest conversations
• Denial or lack of understanding of cultural/ethnic heritage
• Absence of same-race role models
• Living is a community devoid of diversity
• Parental lack of understanding of a black or brown child’s experience in a white world
• Non-acceptance by family members
• Blatant racism or discrimination within the family constellation or community
Microaggressions
The CW/MHProfessional’sResponse:
Scenario: Luther, a 5 yr. old AA male adopted by a middle-class white couple with 2 children born to them, ages 8 and 12. Luther recently asked his adopted parents, "Why don't I look like you, Jenny and John? My skin is darker, will it get lighter like yours? .... where did I come from"? He also asks whether they are his "real parents?”
The CW/MH Professional’sResponse
Possible suggestions/strategies to help the family address the situation.
o Have an open conversation about Luther's race and his birth parents
o Share/reinforce that he is a now a member of this new family
o Help him feel safe in asking questions about his race/ethnicity
o Introduce Luther to cultural events to expose him to his racial/ethnic heritage
o Help him to maintain connections with birth and/or extended family
o Discussion about diversity – people come in all colors, beliefs, religions, etc.
Protective Factors
• Honest conversations about race, racial bias and discrimination
• Appreciating the diversity of the family and embracing what it means to be a multicultural family
• Participation in cultural events and customs that help a child incorporate their identity and pride in their heritage
• Maintaining connections with birth and/or extended family members
Struggle with Racial & Ethnic Identity
• What is the child or youth’s understanding of her race and ethnicity?
• What experiences are most pressing for her?
• How can you work with the child and or parents to facilitate connection to others like her?
It’s time to talk
Interested in Learning More?
adoptionsupport.org/nti/access/
www.adoptionsupport.org/nti
www.adoptionsupport.org/nti
www.facebook.com/nti.case
Lisa D. Maynard, LMSWNTI Implementation Specialist
585.507.7588
Edna Davis-Brown, MPHNTI Implementation Specialist
240.602.4156
